Best Biography Books

The deeply personal memoir of the former First Lady of the United States — from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to the White House and beyond.

The memoir of The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, born in apartheid South Africa to a Black mother and white father — an act that was literally a crime under apartheid law.

Nike founder Phil Knight's memoir of building one of the world's most iconic brands — from $50 borrowed from his father and a handshake deal for Japanese running shoes to a multi-billion dollar empire. Brutally honest and compulsively readable.

The diary kept by a Jewish teenager hiding in a secret annex in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands — the most widely read personal account of the Holocaust.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Harry S. Truman, one of America's most consequential and underestimated presidents.

Tara Westover's memoir of growing up in the mountains of Idaho without formal education, in a survivalist family, and her journey to Cambridge and Harvard.

David McCullough tells the gripping story of two self-taught bicycle mechanics from Dayton who changed the world by inventing powered flight.

The authorised biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, based on more than forty interviews with Jobs and over one hundred with family members, friends, adversaries, and colleagues.

A rich biography of history's greatest creative genius, based on Leonardo's notebooks and the latest scholarship, exploring the intersection of art and science that defined his work.

Andre Agassi's remarkably candid memoir about a sporting career built on hating the sport that made him famous — written with J.R. Moehringer.

Robert Caro's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Robert Moses, the unelected master planner who shaped New York City for four decades and accumulated more power than any other American in the 20th century.

The definitive biography of Alexander Hamilton — orphan immigrant, Revolutionary War hero, first Secretary of the Treasury, and the Founding Father who built the American financial system.

Former child actress Jennette McCurdy's unflinching memoir about her mother's emotional abuse, the exploitation of the child acting industry, and her path to recovery from eating disorders and trauma.

Nelson Mandela's autobiography traces his journey from a Transkei village through law, activism, 27 years of imprisonment, and his emergence to lead South Africa's democratic transition.

Doris Kearns Goodwin examines Lincoln's political genius through the lens of the three rivals he defeated for the 1860 Republican nomination — whom he then appointed to his cabinet.

One of the most important American autobiographies ever written, chronicling Malcolm X's transformation from street criminal to international civil rights icon.

Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou tells the complete story of how Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos defrauded investors and endangered patients with a blood-testing technology that didn't work.

Oscar winner Viola Davis recounts her extraordinary journey from crushing poverty in rural Rhode Island to EGOT status, with unflinching honesty about trauma, shame, and self-worth.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate tells the story of growing up in Pakistan's Swat Valley, her father's school, the Taliban occupation, and surviving a targeted assassination attempt at fifteen.

David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of John Adams, the principled, irascible, and frequently underestimated second president of the United States.

Erik Larson's account of Winston Churchill's first year as Prime Minister — May 1940 to May 1941 — when Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany and Churchill forged a nation's will to endure.

The true story of Louis Zamperini — Olympic runner turned World War II bombardier who survived 47 days adrift in the Pacific and then two years in Japanese POW camps — and his eventual path to redemption through faith.

Barack Obama's presidential memoir covers his early life, 2008 campaign, and first term, examining both the machinery of American democracy and the personal cost of holding its highest office.

The Japanese Breakfast musician writes about her Korean-American identity, her mother's death from cancer, and how food became the medium for grief and memory.